Easy Fluffy Pancakes Recipe from Scratch

How to make fluffy pancakes at home, with ease. This easy recipe makes pancakes that are light and fluffy and only requires a few simple ingredients you probably have in your kitchen right now. Jump to the full Fluffy Pancakes Recipe or watch our quick recipe video showing you how we make them.

We love simple, no-fail recipes. Recipes that you know are easy to adapt or add to with ease. This recipe is just that. It’s quick to make and we’re willing to bet you’ve got everything you need to make them right now. In the past, we called on boxed mixes. Not anymore. Boxed mixes are great, but everything needed to make delicious pancakes already sits in our kitchen. We said goodbye to the mix and haven’t looked back since.

How to Make Fluffy Pancakes

This recipe is easy! The pancakes aren’t too sweet and are lightly scented with vanilla. They are delicious.

Here’s how we make them:

The Dry Ingredients

Flour: Use all-purpose flour or whole wheat. A combination of the both is nice, too.

Sugar: We use granulated sugar, but you could experiment with brown sugar. Brown sugar will make the pancakes a little more moist.

Baking Powder: Baking powder makes the pancakes so light and fluffy.

Salt: We like to use 3/4 teaspoon of coarse salt. It balances the sugar nicely and brings out lots of flavor in the pancakes.

The Wet Ingredients

Milk: We usually stick to reduced fat milk, since that’s what we have in the fridge, but whole milk or non-dairy milk (like almond or coconut milk) will work, too.

Melted Butter: You can’t beat the taste of butter for this, but we’ve found that melted coconut oil is really tasty.

One Egg: The egg adds structure and helps with how light and fluffy the pancakes become.

Vanilla Extract: Vanilla adds sweetness and depth of flavor. You could try other extracts, too. Almond extract would be pretty delicious.

Do you see how fluffy they are, look at all those air pockets. If you want pancakes that are light and fluffy, make sure you read our tips below.

For Fluffy Pancakes, Don’t Over-mix

Over-mixing pancake batter is a common mistake — it makes them heavy and flat, not fluffy. To prevent this, mix dry and wet ingredients separately at first then combine just before cooking. By the way, these tips apply to waffles and muffins, too. We use this same strategy when making our favorite blueberry muffins.

Once you’re ready to cook, combine the two mixes — we use a fork. Stir until you no longer see dry clumps of flour. There can be some small lumps, though.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: This Easy Homemade Waffles Recipe that makes waffles that are perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. This is one of our absolute favorite recipes!

Now, Adapt It Based on What You Love

This is our basic recipe. We use it often as is, but have used it as a base for other recipes. Add what you love. Here are a few suggestions:

Sprinkle a handful of berries, nuts or chocolate chips into the batter. (We love adding fresh blueberries for blueberry pancakes or mashed and sliced banana for banana pancakes)

Easy Fluffy Pancakes Recipe from Scratch

PREP 10mins

COOK 20mins

TOTAL 30mins

These pancakes are light and fluffy and made completely from scratch. They’re not too sweet and are scented with vanilla, making them extra delicious. These are easy to adapt — try adding a handful of berries, nuts or chocolate to the batter.

Makes 4 servings, 2 pancakes each

You Will Need

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/4 cups (295 ml) milk, dairy and non-dairy both will work

1 large egg

4 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for skillet

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Make Batter

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and the salt in a medium bowl.

Warm milk in microwave or on top of stove until lukewarm, not hot (you should be able to keep your finger submerged for 10 seconds). Whisk milk, egg, melted butter and the vanilla extract until combined. (By warming the milk slightly, the melted butter mixes into the milk instead of turning into small lumps).

Cook Pancakes

Heat a large skillet (or use griddle) over medium heat. The pan is ready if when you splatter a little water onto the pan surface, the water dances around the pan and eventually evaporates.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour milk mixture into the well and use a fork to stir until you no longer see clumps of flour. It is okay if the batter has small lumps, in fact you want that – it is important not to over-mix the batter.
Lightly brush skillet with melted butter. Use a 1/4-cup measuring cup to spoon batter onto skillet. Gently spread the batter into a 4-inch circle.

When edges look dry and bubbles start to appear and pop on the top surfaces of the pancake, turn over. This takes about 2 minutes. Once flipped, cook another 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked in the middle. Serve immediately with warm syrup, butter and/or berries.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

We use kosher salt. If you don’t have it on hand, keep this in mind: 1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt = about 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt.

Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

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Not a success! All we could taste was the bicarbonate and salt, which I did suspect was too much as I was adding. Are the quantities correct? Despite not being able to eat them, they were the fluffiest pancakes I’ve ever made!

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We all struggle with what to cook for dinner and yes, I am definitely including Adam and me in that! So you never run out of inspiration, we want to send you a completely free weekly email with easy, delicious and fresh recipes perfect for dinner! Click Go to signup for free!